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i8aO JAMES FENIMORE-COOPER 237

was on the 25th of May last, the day before the date of
your letter. The lady was a Miss Storrs of Hudson. Per-
haps you may think I am rather young to enter into so
serious a connexion. Circumstances connected with the
parties must necessarily influence our judgement of the
propriety of such a step. Possibly I have done wrong. I
have myself no fears of the result.

It gives me great pleasure to learn that your own
health, and that of my Aunt and Cousins, is so good.
However little disease may in truth have visited your
family, popular rumor has once or twice brought you to
the verge of the grave, and the public prints have as often
begun to sing a requiem over their "distinguished country-
man." Severity of criticism I find is not the only "penalty
of wielding the quill." Authors are objects of notice to
others than judges of their literary merits. A prying and
excited curiosity is actively at work around them, which
distorts what exists and creates what has no existence.
Rumor is seldom silent; celebrity is her favorite theme;
and with her "hundred tongues" she propagates a hun-
dred stories. She digs graves with a sexton-like dexterity,
and heaps the clod on men who are enjoying healthful
and vigorous life. To "die and be alive again" ceases to
be a marvel, and with her becomes an every-day occur-
rence.

The name of the gentleman who accompanied Miss
Mary Cooper a thousand miles is Hoyt. He started with
the avowed purpose of going no farther than Utica, but
from some cause or other he continued on to Green Bay.
It is believed by some that they are to be married.

I should suppose, from the determination you express
to plunge into a wilderness upon your return, that your
opinion of mankind has not improved by a more extended



	i8aO JAMES FENIMORE-COOPER 237 was on the 25th of May last, the day before the date of your letter. The lady was a Miss Storrs of Hudson. Per- haps you may think I am rather young to enter into so serious a connexion. Circumstances connected with the parties must necessarily influence our judgement of the propriety of such a step. Possibly I have done wrong. I have myself no fears of the result. It gives me great pleasure to learn that your own health, and that of my Aunt and Cousins, is so good. However little disease may in truth have visited your family, popular rumor has once or twice brought you to the verge of the grave, and the public prints have as often begun to sing a requiem over their "distinguished country- man." Severity of criticism I find is not the only "penalty of wielding the quill." Authors are objects of notice to others than judges of their literary merits. A prying and excited curiosity is actively at work around them, which distorts what exists and creates what has no existence. Rumor is seldom silent; celebrity is her favorite theme; and with her "hundred tongues" she propagates a hun- dred stories. She digs graves with a sexton-like dexterity, and heaps the clod on men who are enjoying healthful and vigorous life. To "die and be alive again" ceases to be a marvel, and with her becomes an every-day occur- rence. The name of the gentleman who accompanied Miss Mary Cooper a thousand miles is Hoyt. He started with the avowed purpose of going no farther than Utica, but from some cause or other he continued on to Green Bay. It is believed by some that they are to be married. I should suppose, from the determination you express to plunge into a wilderness upon your return, that your opinion of mankind has not improved by a more extended